Google's Super Satellite Captures First Image

[KilJaden]

This bird's-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world's highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.

The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 cm -- close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye's vice president of communications and marketing.

Even though the GeoEye-1 satellite sports a colorful Google sticker, its key customer is actually not Google but rather the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a U.S. government agency that analyzes imagery in support of national security. The NGA is paying for half of the development of the $502 million satellite and has committed to purchasing imagery from it. Google is GeoEye's second major partner.

"This is the opposite of a spy satellite," Brender said in a phone interview. "Spies don't put info on the internet and sell imagery. We're an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground."

Since around the late 70s, the military has used high-resolution spy satellites capable of reading newspaper headlines in Red Square. But only in recent years the technology became available to the public and businesses while concurrently making dramatic strides in coverage and resolution. For example, when Google Earth launched in 2004, its imagery was low-res and spotty. But by March 2006, a third of the world population could get a bird's-eye view of their own homes in high resolution.

There's one catch for Google: While the GeoEye-1 will provide imagery to the NGA at the maximum resolution of 43 cm, Google will only receive images at a 50-cm resolution because of a government restriction, Brender explained. However, Google's partnership with GeoEye is exclusive, meaning the search-engine giant will be the only online mapping site using the satellite's photos.

"We're commercializing a technology that was once only in the hands of the governments," Brender said. "Just like the internet, just like GPS, just like telecom -- all invented by the government. And now we are on the front end of the spear that is commercializing this technology."

Considered the world's most-accurate commercial imaging satellite, the GeoEye-1 had been undergoing calibration and inspection since it was launched on Sept. 6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.

A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25 cm, company representatives promised. However, Google's satellite imagery will not likely get more detailed because of the 50-cm regulation.

Original Article

[irefay]

Thats awsome. Hopefuly Garmin will follow suit and start using recent (less than 4 year old) data to make their maps!

[Ambrocious]

In some weird way...I wouldn't mind if Google monopolized it's self. Google's current visionary plan is awesome and if it sticks to like wise plans, it would be awesome to see it take over half the world. I wouldn't really mind it either!

[shought]

In some weird way...I wouldn't mind if Google monopolized it's self. Google's current visionary plan is awesome and if it sticks to like wise plans, it would be awesome to see it take over half the world. I wouldn't really mind it either!

That's how all monopolies start, but in the end they all fuck up, it's just like dictatorship, at first you like the guy and don't mind him taking over power, but then he starts taking away your privacy and freedom of speech!

[legba]

I have to disagree with "shought", I don't believe Google is a monopoly, just a big company. As long as a new one has the possibility to establish and the market to choose it than it's not "monopoly" and not even "mercantilistic false-monopoly". The former is normally a Government owned company, so in a sense it is the essence of a socialist-fascist economy. The latter is the typical South American economy in which 4 or 5 big character in a country's economy bribe the government to impede import and impede new characters to play the game = salaries stagnates while prices rises.

A big governent will lead to the former, a week government will lead to the latter.

The government has to be big enough to render the market free but small enough not to become THE PLAYER in the economy.

It's not a big company that impede free speech. It's alwasy the governent. But if you think USA now you then have no clue. Take a look at Canada and the McLean's-Steyn case.

[dMog]

I have to disagree with "shought", I don't believe Google is a monopoly, just a big company. As long as a new one has the possibility to establish and the market to choose it than it's not "monopoly" and not even "mercantilistic false-monopoly". The former is normally a Government owned company, so in a sense it is the essence of a socialist-fascist economy. The latter is the typical South American economy in which 4 or 5 big character in a country's economy bribe the government to impede import and impede new characters to play the game = salaries stagnates while prices rises.

A big governent will lead to the former, a week government will lead to the latter.

The government has to be big enough to render the market free but small enough not to become THE PLAYER in the economy.

It's not a big company that impede free speech. It's alwasy the governent. But if you think USA now you then have no clue. Take a look at Canada and the McLean's-Steyn case.

Or....take a look at a really good look at the patriot act in the USA and the abuses of power of the current vice president ...just at what by law the duties of the office of the vice president actually are and then look at what he has actually done...o crap now that i said this the CIA and the FBI will shut down the internet> All kidding aside here people governments only get away with what we citizens of any country ALLOW them to get away with..especially in democracies.... we really are very lucky to live in democracies.... the ones of us that live in free societies take it for granted.

[shought]

I have to disagree with "shought", I don't believe Google is a monopoly, just a big company. As long as a new one has the possibility to establish and the market to choose it than it's not "monopoly" and not even "mercantilistic false-monopoly". The former is normally a Government owned company, so in a sense it is the essence of a socialist-fascist economy. The latter is the typical South American economy in which 4 or 5 big character in a country's economy bribe the government to impede import and impede new characters to play the game = salaries stagnates while prices rises.

A big governent will lead to the former, a week government will lead to the latter.

The government has to be big enough to render the market free but small enough not to become THE PLAYER in the economy.

It's not a big company that impede free speech. It's alwasy the governent. But if you think USA now you then have no clue. Take a look at Canada and the McLean's-Steyn case.

In theory what you just said is 100 % right, but in practice when a big company has all the power available a small competing company has no chance, and therefore it's not a monopoly in theory, but in practice it comes down to the same.

[sumant30]

Monopoly of any form is always bad because after sometimes the guys who have monopolies start thinking that that whole world owes them look at Microsoft for instance.

[Bizarre™]

Good thing there is Apple, IBM, Novell, Sun, ReactOS, et al., huh :dance2: ?

[Marik]

Shought, I think I can see your house from here.

You know what that means, right

[shought]

Shought, I think I can see your house from here.

You know what that means, right

My horse...?

No, I don't, if I had a horse, yes, you could beat it, but not till death, that would lower its value too dramatically.

[Bizarre™]

:(

[sumant30]

Good thing there is Apple, IBM, Novell, Sun, ReactOS, et al., huh :( ?

Well i wouldn't include IBM in tht list because it is too a monopolistic giant.

[HATE9X]

Shought, I think I can see your house from here.

You know what that means, right

My horse...?

No, I don't, if I had a horse, yes, you could beat it, but not till death, that would lower its value too dramatically.

:(

[Bizarre™]

Well i wouldn't include IBM in tht list because it is too a monopolistic giant.

That's why I included IBM, because companies all have one thing in mind... to dominate :dance2:

It equals all out.

[Infinite_Vision]

Wow that is clear.

[nsane]

that's nothing compared to it's maximum resolution, which the government won't let them use because "terrorists could use it for intel." while never mentioning the fact that the pictures would be around 4 years old before the satellite made it's way back to that area (far from 'real-time' intel) ;)

any ways, it's max resolution is somewhere in the 40 centimeter range. that's enough to tell the difference between a penny and a dime that are laying on the ground :P

[Guest daniel5000ce]

i need some of nsane's superweed...

yo google is tha shizzle they got every major app on windows except an OS...

they could beat out microsoft somday but they will never have a monopoly over computer data...

u might be sitting there saying WTF? they allredy do well.. NO they don't

ppl put like thousands and millions of words invisible on there site to "be #1" on Google's hit list>>>

thats how they DO ...IT

:dance2: